Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Opportunities become skewed when we first step up to the building and the executives see us Pushing The Pull Door, the looks we receive confer on us that we could be seen out of our depth, that at best we cannot take instruction, at worst we cannot fulfil even the simplest of interactions; and yet we fail to notice there is a third option, we don’t take into consideration, that the poet, like the maverick, will somehow always find a way to still make that door open and let in the light where others will only find darkness.
It is only the instruction that stops us from going against the grain, and whilst that door may be stubborn, may refuse to initially budge, it only implores on the subject to push that much harder, and of glass be broken, if the hinges come off with a noise that resembles a star ejecting mass, then so be it; because doors, like art, need to be obtainable without obstruction.
In his new studio album, Pushing The Pull Door, Tom Houston seizes the moment, looks to those around him who see the situation unfold, and instead with genius observed, makes that door to his music accessible to all who wish to follow him through the now two way entrance/exit.
Instruction is all well and good, but it leaves little for the imagination to access, and yet the mavericks, the geniuses, the polite rebels, and the dissidents who shake the tree harder than anyone to get to that one piece of delicious fruit hanging enticingly on the top branch, they seem to get the job done with tremendous and brilliant effect.
With Neill MacColl adding his own considered creative parts to the album, and alongside Mattie Foulds, Mary Erskine, Kate St John, Simon Edwards, and Martyn Barker who perform on the album across the superb set of songs, Tom Houston captures the expression of refusing to be undeterred by other’s perception and rules and by doing so brings an album out into the open which is poetic charm, bullish intent, and always accurate in its acute detail.
Across tracks such as the opener Beach At The Edge Of Time, Dining By Myself, Smiling At The Croft, the excellent Haberdashery Floor 7, Alexandra Staying, Lingering, and The Next Available Agent, Tom Houston’s inspiring voice, reason, and observation doesn’t just open a door to intrigue and fascination from both sides, it tears at the structure imposed on us all by dictating what rules must always be observed even when they are wrong.
Pushing The Pull Door may lead to looks of astonishment, and perhaps derision, but push hard enough and you will find that the entrance to anything can be sought and made to work for you.
Ian D. Hall